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Thursday, August 21, 2014

HMS Apollyon - Necromancer Subclass

Necromancy

The
history of Sterntown and fear of the Ash Plague has made necromancy a forbidden
art in Sterntown, and its practice is punishable by the most severe and
gruesome of sentences.Still the power
over the dead and the lure of immortality that the dark art offers draws
adherents who must conceal their research and take great efforts to disguise
their creations.Because of the fear of
discovery that hangs over every necromancer they tend to be reclusive, at first
skulking and scurry about and as they grow more accomplished learning to hide
in plain sight through disguising their powers and adopting mannerisms that
deflect suspicion.Necromancers are
rare, but the last two powerful ones ferreted out by the Church of the Queen’s
witch smellers have been sorcerer with social grace, the most vibrant dress,
and foppish manners, as far from the black-clad and cadaverous stereotype as
possible.

Speak
with Dead – The
skilled necromancer can speak with the dead and undead, compelling corpses to
talk and understand regardless of their age.At least the skull of the creature is needed for this power to work,
and the ability does not compel the dead to answer questions or behave in a
friendly manner.

Legerdemain
2 in 6

Tier 3

Greater
Reanimation –
Necromancer may build and reanimate undead thralls of limited intelligence
and will of up to 1 HD per level of spell slot dissipated.

Banishment – The necromancer may drive off
and hold hostile undead at bay with his will alone.Necromancers turn undead as a cleric of ½
his or her level.This ability will
not destroy undead, only cause them to flee or cover defensively.

Tier 4

Raise
Dead – Necromancer
reach through the veil of death and return souls to their mortal bodies.A person less than 5 days dead can be
raised by the necromancer with this ability.This action takes a session of downtime, and requires a roll under
Constitution on the part of both the necromancer and subject.A failure by the necromancer means a
permanent 1 point Constitution loss to the necromancer, while a failure by
the resurrection’s subject results in permanent death.Individuals raised by necromancers are
effectively undead, suffering the effects of turning and damage from holy
water, as well as the inability to heal by non-magical means and a permanent
loss of 1D6/2 Constitution.

Lich
Process – A
Necromancer may begin the process of transforming themselves into a Lich at
this level of power.This should be
treated as spell research of the Maximum level,with failure resulting in the Necromancer’s
destruction/death and success transformation into to a near immortal undead
creature.

Legerdemain
3 in 6

Spells

Legerdemain – The skill of fast talk and
deception, an individual successfully using this skill may concoct disguises,
take on fake accents and manipulate the emotions of their targets.Successful use of the skill will allow a user
to conceal their true identity or disguise themselves, avoiding potential
reputation related penalties, and even calm a violent situation (unless combat
has already begun) or mend a poor reaction roll.If a character with legerdemain successfully
attempts to manipulate or fast talk their target this causes another reaction
roll with a bonus equal to ½ the manipulator’s legerdemain skill.

Reanimation – By investing a greater or smaller
portion of their magical energy a necromancer may create and command undead
thralls.By giving up one or more spell
slots the Necromancer may empower undead servants, entirely loyal but very
unintelligent and inclined towards evil and mayhem.The basic undead thrall is something akin to
a zombie or skeleton, but by investing greater or lesser amounts of power they
may be given special abilities and intelligence.A basic thrall will have AC 17, and one
attack with a trained attack bonus structure for Hit Dice.

Thrall Special Abilities

Spell Level Cost

Effect

Intelligence

1 Spell Level

Basic Intelligence (INT 4) (Morale
12)

2 Spell Level

Moderate Intelligence (INT 11)
(Morale 10)

Offensive

1 Spell Level

Warrior Attack Bonus

1 Spell Level

Additional Attack

1 Spell Level

Dangerous Attack - Attackdoes Damage as 2-Handed Weapon

2 Spell Level

Attack Drains Levels

2 Spell Level

Paralyzing Attack

Defensive

1 Spell Level

Additional Armor (AC 15)

2 Spell Level

Heavy Armor (AC 18)

3 Spell Level

Normal Weapon Immunity

Skills and Abilities

A
Necromancer’s first and most basic spell is Momento Mori, and in addition to this basic spell the Necromancer
gains one of the following spells, determined randomly.

Momento Mori

Be
performing a short ritual the Necromancer wraps herself in a lasting
enchantment, which will endure until a single ‘dissipation’ result on the event
die.Suffused with the essence of death,
the necromancer makes undead nearby accepting of her presence.It is not clear if this is a form of
invisibility or simply a charm that calms the angry dead, but undead creatures
will generally ignore the Necromancer and any of her own undead thralls while
the necromancer is under the effect of this spell, unless they attack or
otherwise make efforts to make themselves known.Sentient and powerful undead (Over 4 HD) may
still detect the caster, as if she had a 5 in 6 stealth skill.

In addition
to Momento Mori a starting
Necromancer will have one of the following spells scribed in her spellbook:

1D6

Introductory
Necromantic Magics

1

Ghostly
Presence – Magic
User is shielded from harm by a ghostly presence.This spirit creates a fairly ineffective
shield in front of the caster, using it’s somewhat insubstantial form to swap
aside blows and missiles, granting an AC of 15 for the 1D6+Level rounds that
the spirit is summoned.Additionally
the ghostly presence will absorb any magic missile attack directed against
the necromancer during this time

2

Charm
Undead – Using
this spell thenecromancer may charm
or shift the allegiance of an undead creature that can understand the
Necromancer.Charmed creatures may
save v. spells to resist the charm on it’s initial application and then upon
every ‘dissipation’ roll on the encounter day.A charmed undead may be made into a
necromancer’s thrall if the necromancer has enough available spell slots to
reanimate such a creature (in which case controlling it uses those spell slots
as if the necromancer had reanimated the creature).

3

Magic
Missile – The
necromancer manifests a magical attack that will automatically strike a
single target.The attack has no
physical force but will do 1D6 points of damage.An additional missile can be created for
every tier of Necromantic power possessed by the caster. Necromancer’s magic missile can take many
forms, though the most common are unerring ghostly birds, flying skulls or
rays of necrotizing power.

4

Talking
Skull - When this spell
is cast, a necromancer can enchant a skull with jaw bone to move and speaks
any message the caster desire up to three sentences in length over a 1 turn
period from start to finish. It cannot speak magic spells. The spell can be
triggered by any simple occurrence according to the command of the
necromancer.Once the skull speaks
this enchantment will expire.

5

Darkness
– The necromancer
can create globe of darkness that obscures all light within a 10’ radius that
will last for three rolls of the ‘dissipate’ result on the random encounter
check.This darkness is impervious to
normal light sources, can will extinguish magic lights (both spells consuming
one another).The spell may be cast on
the eyes of a living creature, and if they fail to save vs. spells will
result in blindness.

6

Miasma
of Fear – Pulling
the vaguest reflections and whispers of existence from nearby spirits the
necromancer creates a region around themselves (a 10’ square centered on the
caster) that reeks of death and whispers with the agonies of the death.Any living, natural creature entering the
miasma (including the caster’s allies) must save vs. spells or flee for 1D6/2
rounds.The miasma does not move with
the caster but will persist for one dissipation roll.